A growing problem in modern society is the ever-rising cost of medical care. Contributing to the rising costs of medical care is the price for medical equipment, and more particularly, for surgical tools. Surgical tools are expensive to purchase and may become useless after one or only several uses, for example, due to the affects of use, sterilization, or for other reasons. Accordingly, devices which extend the useful life of a surgical tool are a welcome addition to the medical field since such devices reduce the need repeatedly to purchase new surgical equipment.
The present invention extends the useful life of a tool used in extracapsular cataract surgery. In the surgical art of extracapsular cataract surgery, the lens contents are pulverized while a saline solution is irrigated into and aspirated from the eye. One exemplary procedure to remove the nucleus of the lens is referred to as expressing the lens. Another exemplary procedure to fragment the nucleus is known as phacoemulsification. In phacoemulsification the nucleus is fragmented and most of the fragments, preferably all, are removed. After completion of removal of the nucleus an irrigation-aspiration handpiece is used to remove any remaining nuclear material and, primarily, cortical lens material. The fragmented cataract which is composed of nuclear and cortical material is withdrawn along with the irrigation liquid by or during the aspiration mode of the surgical procedure.
An exemplary device which irrigates and aspirates the lens capsule, for example, after the phacoemulsification procedure, includes an irrigation-aspiration tip having approximately a 0.1 to 0.3 mm aspiration opening and an aspiration passageway for removal of the fragmented nuclear and cortical material. Due to the small size of such opening and/or passageway, and the unique quality of the lens material, e.g. sticky, gooey, glue-like, etc., even like a solid plasma, some of the aspirated nuclear and cortical material may become stuck and not pass completely through the tip. If this occurs, when the tip is sterilized the nuclear or cortical material still remaining in the tip "bakes" onto the inner surface of the tip's passageway, thereby obstructing the passageway. This may render the device useless for subsequent extracapsular surgeries until the irrigation-aspiration tip is replaced.
The device used for irrigation and aspiration also includes a handpiece to an end of which the irrigation-aspiration tip usually is connected. This device can cost as much as $2500, with the individual tips costing approximately $500 each. Accordingly, every time a tip becomes obstructed by the "baked" nuclear or cortical material, the tip must be replaced, which, as is indicated, is at substantial cost. Currently, ophthalmic surgeons are forced to replace a number, for example, as many as five or even more, of tips per year due to obstruction from "baked" nuclear or cortical material.
The present invention relates to a device and method to backflush the irrigation-aspiration device, and particularly the irrigation-aspiration tip, thereby removing nuclear and cortical material remaining in the tip after completion of cataract surgery. Therefore, when the tip is sterilized, there will be no nuclear or cortical material remaining that can "bake" onto the inner surface of the tip's passageway and obstruct the passageway. Thus, the present invention provides an efficient, economical device and method for extending the useful life of irrigation-aspiration devices, and particularly aspiration tips.